Hoffman Estates' show plays well away from home, too

After playing before two large crowds at home, Hoffman Estates took its 2-0 record on the road to Deerfield on Friday night.

"It just wasn't the same feel, even as we warmed up on the practice field," said Hawks coach Tim Heyse. "We had to find something to jump-start us."

Hoffman Estates had a plan for that: The Hawks Adrian Witek did a 'pooch' kick, which startled the host Warriors.

Christian Fernandez recovered the ball at he Deerfield 43, and the momentum went to the Hawks.

They scored on that possession and the next, building a 14-0 lead before going on to win 34-7. The victory in the Mid-Suburban/Central Suburban crossover saw Hoffman Estates go to 3-0, while Deerfield dropped to 1-2 at Paul Adams Field.

"We practice that play a lot in practice," said Hoffman Estates quarterback Austin Coalson. "We planned it out. We had the mind set to recover the ball."

"Witek did a good job of bouncing the ball and we have some speedy players on that side of the field," said Heyse.

Jaylin Johnson, who led the Hawks with 128 yards on 16 carries, scored the first of his 2 touchdowns with 10:23 left in the first quarter. His own run of 34 yards brought the ball to the Deerfield 2, and Johnson scored two plays later.

Coalson finished 19 of 26 passing with 1 interception. He threw the first of his 2 touchdown passes with 4:42 left in the inital quarter.

The Hawks drove 65 yards in 11 plays. Coalson connected with Jordan Lane on a 1-yard pass for a 14-0 lead. Coalson completed 6 of 7 passes on the drive.

"The offensive line did a great job for me and the receivers made me look good," said Coalson. "I don't know where I'd be without the both of them."

Adam Burks and Tyler Montgomery played key roles on the line, subbing for injured linemen.

Jaylan Alexander caught 7 passes for 94 yards. Jayvon Blissett grabbed three passes for 53 yards.

Johnson's second score, a 34-yard run, gave the Hawks a 20-0 lead with 5:13 left in the first half.

Clevontae Jackson intercepted a Ryan Nagelbach pass and returned it 35 yards for a 27-0 lead with 1:15 left in the half.

"Our defense made the plays when we had to," said Jackson. "We had some bumps and curves in our game tonight on defense, but we showed that we can come together."

The defense, which forced 5 turnovers on 2 interceptions and 3 fumble recoveries, set up Hoffman Estates' last touchdown.

Alan Sanchez stripped the ball from Nagelbach at the Deerfield 35. Two plays later, Coalson connected with Blissett on a 28-yard scoring pass with :40 left in the half.

"We had some good defensive play tonight," said Sanchez. "We're not satisfied with what we've done. We can get better."

"It's nice to know that we have a lot of weapons on offense," said Heyse. "They did some blitzing and Austin was able to find open receivers. They tried to take some of our offense away, but we made some good adjustments."

Deerfield's only score came with 5:35 left in the game when Nagelbach connected with Michael Gargiulo on a 29 yard touchdown pass.

Deerfield amassed 211 yards. Kenneth Kerstein rushed 12 times for 92 yards and caught 2 passes for 83 yards.

Hoffman Estates picked up 395 yards of offense.